Winter 2005 - Wayne State College

Alumni NotesBe Rudloff Leads School to National AwardBeata (Be) Rudloff, ‘83 BAE, ‘94 MSE, and thecommunity in which she lives and works have agreat deal to be proud of. Be is the elementaryprincipal at Creighton Community Schools inCreighton, Neb., which was the only school inNebraska to receive the national “No Child LeftBehind Blue Ribbon School” award in 2003.Creighton was one of only 214 schools in thenation to receive this honor.The No Child Left Behind Blue RibbonSchools program, sponsored by the United StatesDepartment of Education, recognizes schools thatmake significant progress in closing the achievementgap or whose students achieve at very highlevels. Schools must meet “Adequate YearlyProgress,” or AYP, in reading/language arts andmathematics.“No Child Left Behind is starting to generatesome amazing results, transforming the educationallandscape,” said U.S. Secretary of Education RodPaige. Creighton High School was one of only fourschools in Nebraska to receive the award in 2004.Congratulations, Be and staff!Wayne State graduates teaching in Creighton Community Schools include:front row (l-r) LaDonna Hazen, Kindergarten; Tracy Tyler, grade four; JanetNaprstek, Elementary SPED; and Deb Bloomquist, grade four. Back row (l-r)Be Rudloff, Principal; Jean Crosley, grade two; Welden Zepf, PE; Kim Lemke,grade five; and Teresa Kuhl, Elementary SPED.her memory the Indra TransitionalLearning Center wasdedicated in Grand Island onSept. 13, 2004. The Centerhelps special education studentstransition life skills from theclassroom to life. The schoolthanked Catherine for herextraordinary philanthropic giftto Grand Island Public Schools.Lois (Ankeny) Westadt ’40,(86), Schuyler; Sept. 27.Georgia G. (Severson)Humbert ’44, (81), SergeantBluff, Iowa; Aug. 28.Leona (Bloom) Dykeman ’48,(79), Fremont; Oct. 19.J. VonBergen Phillips ’50, (77),Kenai, Alaska; Sept. 11.Marilyn (Ellison) Beckman’50, (76), Elgin; Oct. 28.Viola (French) Norskov ’51,Omaha.22Sherman Philip “S.P.” Eddy’51, (74). Amherst; Aug. 31.Cleo M. Tippery ’53, (78),Mapleton, Iowa; Nov. 22.Rutha Bee (McCoy) Weatherl’54, (75), Lincoln; Nov. 24.Wilford V. “Bill” Brown ’59,(68), Cambridge; Oct. 7.Beulah (Funk) Atkins ’61, (93),Wayne; Oct. 7.Ethel (Fredrickson) Malmberg’69, (84), South Sioux City;Oct. 11.Dan Wolfe ’70, (57), Scottsdale,Ariz.; Aug. 30.Martha M. (Klein) Prochaska’79, MSE ’82, Wakefield;Oct. 4.Ilene (Munson) Hornback ’86,(75), Wisner; Oct. 12.Remembering Hilda NeihardtHilda Neihardt, 88, died on Dec. 27, 2004 in Coatesville,Ind., where she had been living with her daughter. Neihardt,the daughter of the late John G. Neihardt, was awarded anhonorary doctorate of humane letters from Wayne State lastsummer. The ceremony, held on July 24 in Indianapolis, Ind.,honored her for a lifetime of achievement. “Through yourefforts as an accomplished writer, dramatic interpreter andpassionate champion of your father’s legacy, you have been amajor force in keeping the works of John G. Neihardt alive andappreciated by a new generation,” Dr. Richard Collings, WSCpresident, told her.Neihardt, who attended Wayne State College from 1934 to1936, received a juris doctorate from the University of MissouriSchool of Law in 1963, and became the first practicingwoman attorney in central Missouri. She moved back toNebraska in the late 1980s, serving as president of the John G.Neihardt Foundation board of trustees from 1989 until 2002.She received the first ‘Word Sender’ award from the NeihardtFoundation in 2000.In addition to promoting her father’s works, Neihardt washerself a published author. She received the 1991 Mildred R.Bennett Nebraska Literature Award for editing two collectionsof her father’s short stories. A manuscript which she completedshortly before her death recounting her parents’ marriage,The Broidered Garment - the Story of John and Mona,will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2006.